A man, a plan, a canal: Panama

[Fr8monkey]

A grand celebration was originally planned for the official opening of the canal, as befitting so great an effort which had aroused strong feelings for many years. However, the outbreak of World War I forced cancellation of the main festivities, and the grand opening became a modest local affair. The Panama Railway steamship SS Ancon, piloted by Captain John A. Constantine, the Canal's first pilot, made the first official transit of the canal.

It was on this date that the 50-mile-long canal officially opened to traffic after more than 30 years of planning, blasting, dredging, and building. Here are some vintage photos of the canal during the construction and in action.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I found it interesting that thousands died in the process. It is like the modern Pyramids.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Except, that unlike the Pyramids, which were used as giant stone... pyramids (shocker!) to bury pharaohs, the canal was used to fund even more rich people so that they could become even richer!

..so pretty much the same.

 

[Tigranes]

Wouldn't this fit better in the World History section?

 

[Colonel]

We should have never given control back and maintained the Canal Zone as a permanent colony of the US!

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Is it a wonder in civ even?

also

Link to video.

 

[bhsup]

Thanks, Obama Carter!

 

[Timsup2nothin]

We should have never given control back and maintained the Canal Zone as a permanent colony of the US!

Since that approach worked out so well for England, et al.

 

[Colonel]

Since that approach worked out so well for England, et al.

It is a matter of self interest we had the power to maintain it, and we ended up having to invade after control was given up. We need to take a more active role in defending the interests of the US.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It is a matter of self interest we had the power to maintain it, and we ended up having to invade after control was given up. We need to take a more active role in defending the interests of the US.

We've been fighting two wars at a time...how active do you propose we need to be?

 

[Colonel]

We've been fighting two wars at a time...how active do you propose we need to be?

Active enough to ensure we control the assets we need (like the Canal) and ensure continued prosperity of the US. Besides we built it!

 

[Kaitzilla]

There is another man, a plan, and a canal in the works.

Only he's Chinese and the canal is Nicaragua.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/...ragua-banks-on-its-own-canal-to-boost-economy

One hundred years ago today, the first ship passed through the brand-new, U.S.-built Panama Canal; a century later, Panama owns the canal outright, and the country is one of the most prosperous in the region.

Panama's neighbor to the north, Nicaragua, is hoping a transoceanic canal and similar prosperity are in its near future. The government has joined forces with a Chinese billionaire to construct a 173-mile, interocean canal.

It may cost more than $50 billion, but the government says the mega-project is critical to lifting the nation out of dire poverty. Critics say the environmental and social damage will be irreparable.

Francisco Telemaco Talavera, the affable and outgoing leader of Nicaragua's prestigious National Agrarian University, is a perfect pitchman for the proposed Grand Canal. His rapid-fire, two-hour presentation on it is filled with jokes, hand gestures and dozens of slides.

"The canal will bring prosperity to all in this poor nation," says Telemaco, creating 50,000 jobs during the five-year construction period and 200,000 more once the canal is up and running. He also says it will turn Nicaragua — now the second-poorest nation in the hemisphere after Haiti, based on a U.S. estimate of its economic output — into the region's powerhouse, with economic growth rates as high as 14 percent a year.

But building the canal won't be easy, Telemaco says — if it were, someone already would have done it.

It ticks off all the boxes for China.

3 times bigger than US canal.
Allows ships much bigger than the Panama Canal can.
Giant infrastructure project.
Massive environmental damage.

Wonder if they will go through with it?

"People are also very worried about the beaches, and what happens if the diggers dig too deep and disturb the active volcanoes," says Bol.

There could be an eruption, and we will all be gone, she says. It was Nicaragua's active volcanoes and seismic activity that led the United States to select Panama for the site of the canal more than a century ago.

Pfft, can't let little worries get in the way or nothing ever gets done.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Active enough to ensure we control the assets we need (like the Canal) and ensure continued prosperity of the US. Besides we built it!

I'm sure most people got this the first time, but...

Since that approach worked out so well for England, et al.

 

[Colonel]

We must stop the Chinese from building another canal. The Western Hemisphere is for America and her interests.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

We must stop the Chinese from building another canal. The Western Hemisphere is for America and her interests.

Is there anyone you don't want to go to war on?

 

[jackelgull]

Is there anyone you don't want to go to war on?

Probably some worthless African country with nothing to offer besides desert, and even then he might make an exception if they ally with China or Russia.

 

[Colonel]

Is there anyone you don't want to go to war on?

I didn't say war, I said we must stop them from building another Canal. If nothing else American Business should step in and out bid China.

 

[Kozmos]

I didn't say war, I said we must stop them from building another Canal. If nothing else American Business should step in and out bid China.

How exactly would said canal impact America? Panama would still have its own canal, the Nicaraguan would be primarily locally employed and even if some nonsensical issue would arise in the future America has a massive lead on its force projection capabilities and benefit of relative closeness.

American business can hardly outbid China, they are all about maximizing profit and they can't really pay low wages as Chinese firms can.

 

[Cutlass]

I didn't say war, I said we must stop them from building another Canal. If nothing else American Business should step in and out bid China.

Don't worry. It will fail. It's an idiotic idea.

 

[Colonel]

How exactly would said canal impact America? Panama would still have its own canal, the Nicaraguan would be primarily locally employed and even if some nonsensical issue would arise in the future America has a massive lead on its force projection capabilities and benefit of relative closeness.

American business can hardly outbid China, they are all about maximizing profit and they can't really pay low wages as Chinese firms can.

Sure they can, just have to follow a fine line of the law. You have shell company in that country handle the manual labor thus the American company wouldn't have to pay the wages thus they could be paid whatever the going rate is there for manual labor.